


Trials and Sorrows

by CoatSwapInn (mybelovedtwinflower)



Category: Archipelago (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 03:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8384875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mybelovedtwinflower/pseuds/CoatSwapInn
Summary: Life in the Luck-Pintur household can be tough sometimes. Sometimes it's utter joy. Most of the time it's both.





	

“Alice? Are you okay?” Riley asked, and tried to keep the lump from rising into his throat. His wife opened one eye to peek up at him from where she’d been laying in the sun. Her hand waved a so-so gesture. He sat near her in the grass. Leaned back on his palms.  
It was warm today.  
“Did…” Her small question faltered like fledgling bird. “…you see it?”  
Riley closed his eyes and chuckled sadly. “I never did like that old nightstand. It was gonna give out eventually… Must’ve been weak wood.”   
It wasn’t. It never so much as wobbled. Sure, it was a bit rough around the edges but it was just as sturdy as any.  
Alice’s sob was almost too soft to catch. Almost.  
He matched her mood, dwelling in silence.   
He’d nearly expected to find the large dinner table broken. The one he’d outcast to the workshop after the first two years. The one he’d boasted would be large enough for their eventual tribe of redheaded freckled shark babies… It’d been empty for too many meals.   
—

They had a glimmer of hope around 14 weeks this time. Then again, and again as each week went by. Everything finally seemed to be, well, normal. Alice propped her feet up and turned her attention to the gentle sounds of music of the banjo. 

—  
The pillow felt an awful lot like a bar table. Riley winced as he blearily opened an eye. The lights and reaffirming stench of something strong confirmed his fears. Not pillow. However, as he became more awake… Not bar either. Riley shot up in his seat, and the past few days hit him like a runaway jabberwocky. Someone grabbed him by the shoulder with a firm steadying hand.   
“Riley.” Tuff’s voice was low. Riley turned to his brother, and only the calm reassurance in the other man’s face kept him from bolting out of his seat. His eyes, however, took the task of searching the room.   
“Wh-where?” A two pronged question. Where was Alice?  
“Recovery. You passed out in the operation room.” Tuff explained, and by nodding to the floor to ceiling curtain answering both questions. What he had smelled was the heavy scent of medicines. Riley’s limbs felt like jello as he tried to stand, needing to be with his wife. Tuff slid his arm to take most of Riley’s weight. “Come on, they gave you something just in case, so you might be unsteady.”  
Riley’s throat tightened as horror grabbed him. “I didn’t-“ Go into shark mode and endanger everything he lived for?   
Tuff shook his head and let the tiniest chuckle out. One that read of extreme tension being released. “Actually, no, it was just an ordinary case of passing out.”   
They hobbled over and Riley lightly took the curtain and pushed it to the side. He saw Credenza sitting at the bedside, and on the bed lay Alice. Credenza shifted in her seat to let the two Luck brothers see the little ones sleeping in Alice’s arms. 

—

They had a glimmer of hope around five months, when the youngest started sleeping through longer stretches of the night. At least one of them could get some decent sleep if the other was rocking the elder out by the fireplace. Riley propped his feet up and turned his attention to the soft weight of his daughter in his arms.

—  
“Riley? Are you okay?” Alice asked, and bit her lip to keep back what threatened to escape them. Her husband peeked at her from under his forearm which covered his eyes. His other hand gave a so-so gesture. She knelt next to him in the grass. Leaned on her arm to steady herself.  
It was warm today.  
“Did…” Riley’s question dropping like a loose stone in the calm after a landslide, “…you see it?”   
Alice closed her eyes and chuckled. “I never liked that table anyhow. It was bound to happen sooner or later, it was never quite large enough.” It really wasn’t. They could always use a larger table, especially with the little one’s appetites. The teething toddlers had chewed the edges up while waiting in their seats.  
Riley’s laugh was almost soft enough to miss. Almost.  
Alice matched his mood, and they dwelt in silence.  
She’d almost expected to find the table in pieces, like the nightstand she’d crushed years ago. The table that’d been welcomed back into their home months after the twins were born. The one that, despite his boasting, would be needing an addition built onto it to accommodate their growing tribe of freckled redheaded shark babies… It had been overfilling from the brim for too many meals.


End file.
